Pearl of wisdom

In the hour after Tennessee’s stunning victory over Pitt in early December, coach Bruce Pearl deflected the praise his Vols had earned and spent a surprising amount of energy trying to convince the media how concerned he was about playing Oakland in a few days.

It seemed like just coach-speak, but we should have been more attentive. Regardless of how good UT was in the Pitt game, Pearl remained unconvinced. Now we see why.

Since that game, his team has been awful: awful in losses to Oakland, Charlotte and USC, awful in wins over Belmont and UT Martin.

Belmont is an excellent low-major team, but Martin is 4-10 and was coming off a 60-point loss to Ohio State. Wednesday night, the Vols beat them by six.

"When we were beating people by a lot more points and being a lot more successful, we were playing like men,'' Hopson told the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Pearl obviously knew that wasn’t a permanent condition.

Setting the coronation

It served the purpose of allowing an extra 12,864 to witness this particular piece of history, and UNC Greensboro also functioned as the sort of opponent that allowed Duke to transact the business of a milestone victory for its coach without any debilitating distractions.

And the next one could be just like that.

All the Blue Devils need to do is win their remaining regular-season games and storm to the championship of the ACC Tournament. If they can make that happen, then victory No. 903 for Mike Krzyzewski would be available in a 1-vs.-16 matchup at the start of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

Krzyzewski is 23 victories from passing his mentor, Bob Knight, who finished his coaching career with 902. Realistically, one might suppose the Devils would lose a few in the ACC regular season, perhaps fall in their February non-league game against Temple or maybe not win the three necessary to be ACC Tournament champs.

But it’s quite likely Duke will be favored in all its scheduled games, whether or not star freshman Kyrie Irving returns from a toe injury. The floundering ACC will pose some challenges for the Devils. Good luck identifying them in advance.

New Year’s Dunkin’ Eve

Remember when New Year’s Eve was for Guy Lombardo and champagne cocktails? No?

Well, surely you remember when it was for Dick Clark and Barry Manilow and cheesy taped recordings of people in an L.A. studio celebrating the New Year that just arrived in New York City.

Well, New Year’s Eve now is about one thing: college hoops.

There are nine games involving top 25 teams. There are 52 games in all, tipping off as late as 10 p.m. ET, which means you can sit in your home in Paris, Ky., and ring in Bonne Annee with Robert Sacre on ESPNU.

Some of the most appealing games (Kentucky-Louisville and Purdue-Northwestern at noon, Washington-UCLA, Minnesota-Michigan State and Florida-Xavier at 4) will end with plenty of time for you to pursue whatever you normally do to celebrate this peculiar holiday. That big ball in Times Square, though, won’t be the most important ball to drop this Dec. 31.